Benefits of a Media Fast

Remember what life was like before social media became the norm?

I was pretty sure I did, until I did a media fast last week as my family and I traveled to Yellowstone National Park.

My son is working for the summer on Bill Cody Ranch near Yellowstone and that's where we stayed during our visit.

The setting couldn't be more spectacular. Towering mountains and canyon walls. Roaring rivers and thick stands of pine and quaking aspens. If you love nature, you'll be in heaven. On the other hand, if you're deeply attached to Wi-Fi or clear cellular service, you're in for an adjustment.

Because the majority of my work is done online, I seldom feel as though I can truly step away from my work without having to check in occasionally on my smartphone. In this case, however, I didn't have a choice.

There was no cell service at the ranch and slow and spotty Wi-Fi was only available in the lodge. Escape via television was not an option either since there wasn't a TV in any of the cabins. We had no choice but to embrace the reality right in front of us and make the best of it.

For some of us, this is like being dropped into the Stone Age.

My media fast turned out to be a far better experience than I could have imagined.

For starters, the angst and conflict that typifies so much of what's being reported on and discussed, simply faded into irrelevance. It was amazing how normal the world began to appear after just a couple of days without media.

Many of us, without realizing it, have developed a serious addiction to bad news. Most of what is reported by our mass media tends to focus on the worst things that people are doing or saying to another.

Constant exposure to this type of information can become what writer Claire Wolfe refers to as a "daily dread supplement" that makes us feel anxious and worried about things that likely don't even directly affect us.

Stepping away from the constant drumbeat of gloom and doom frees us to notice the good and the beautiful things around us. Once freed from our mental blinders, it's astonishing how our ability to change the world for the better increases.

This is because we're able to recognize the things over which we have genuine influence rather than obsessing about things where we have no control.

Back to the practical benefits of a media fast.

Without everyone staring at the screen of their phone, tablet or laptop and relieved of the temptation to stare at a TV screen, we rediscovered one another. Our time was spent playing card games, hiking, taking photos (okay--we didn't entirely ditch our phones), and the under-rated pastime of simply conversing.

Even though our media fast was just a few days, I'm convinced that my family came away stronger and happier for this experience. It was a reminder that we have greater say over our mental wellbeing than we're sometimes led to believe.

A media fast isn't about choosing to bury our heads in the sand as much as it's making a conscious choice about what adds value to our lives and limiting what introduces toxicity into them. It's a type of recalibration that is difficult to appreciate until you've experienced it.

If you've found yourself feeling weighed down with what's coming at you from the screens in your life, consider taking a break and seeing what the world looks like through your own eyes.

You might just find it to your liking.